To initiate a communication session between a calling party communication device and a called party communication device, the calling party communication device sends an invitation to the called party communication device to join the communication session. For example, a calling party telephone calls a called party telephone to initiate a voice conversation. The called party telephone in one example employs a caller identification service to receive identification information of the calling party telephone and/or a user of the calling party telephone. A user of the called party telephone may employ the identification information to decide whether to accept or reject the call.
The calling party telephone in one example is involved in a multi-party communication session prior to inviting the called party telephone to join the multi-party communication session. For example, the calling party telephone is on a conference call with one or more other active communication devices. Upon the calling party telephone calling the called party telephone to join the conference call, the caller identification service indicates to the called party telephone the identification information of the calling party telephone. However, the caller identification service fails to indicate the identification information of the other communication devices active on the conference call to the called party telephone. As one shortcoming, the called party is unaware of the identification information of the other communication devices active on the conference call.
Also, upon addition of the called party telephone to the conference call, the other communication devices active on the conference fail to receive the identification information of the called party telephone. The other communication devices that are active on the conference call in one example receive a notification that a new party has been added to the conference call or a notification that a party has departed the conference call. The notification in one example comprises an audible tone to indicate the addition or departure of a member. As one shortcoming, the other communication devices active on the conference call are unaware of the identification information of the member that has been added to the conference call or the member that has departed the conference call.
Thus, a need exists for an increase in availability of identification information of communication devices in multi-party communication sessions.